TheKitchenSinkRecipes.com

There is something so wonderful about an all-day recipe.  It’s automatically special.  It instantly fills your day up with purpose.  It tethers you to your kitchen and, if you’re like me, that’s just fine by you.  It promises to fill your home with delicious fragrances and gentle warmth.  Best of all, it screams weekend—because, in my world at least, dinner and its preparation simply is not an hours-long affair on a weeknight.  In the fall, such a recipe screams Sunday afternoon, in particular, when golden sunshine filters into the kitchen and the whistles and cracks and cheers of a football game on TV waft out of the living room.  And, because it is fall, with the first hints of chill in the air, your all-day-Sunday recipe might as well be good and hearty.

Last Sunday, in accordance with all of the above, I committed myself to a baked pasta with pork sugo.  This project had me break down a hunk of pork shoulder into chunks, which were first browned and then braised in a concoction of wine, soffritto, tomatoes and fresh herbs that smelled just as lovely as you might expect.  Like any good braise, this one was low and slow.  Hours later, the pork had become fall-apart tender.

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If I had to pick a new middle name, it would be efficiency.  Don’t laugh.  I’m not joking.  As far as names go, I think it’s got a nice ring to it.  But mostly I’m a big fan of efficiency in practice.  If I can get something done in half the time, why not?  If I can do two things at once, all the better!  Now, this efficiency-ophilia comes with a downside called “impatience” (well-documented on this site).   But let’s focus on the positive for now: efficiency!

Which brings  me to September.  Mid-September to be exact.   It’s my favorite time of year: the weather, the attire, the produce, the sports—it’s all perfect.  And, so very efficient.

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Although it always delivers sunny skies, emerald lawns and delicious produce, summer, and what it means to me, has changed over the years.  As a kid, it meant late nights scampering breathlessly around the neighborhood, running through the cool arc of a lawn sprinkler, spending a couple weeks up at my grandparents’ house.

When the teenaged years hit, summer shifted to mean hours spent on the phone and sunbathing, a mind boggling number of soccer games, and a series of pushed boundaries where bedtime and boys were concerned.

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Thursday?  Thursday?!?  Are you sure?  I mean, I love Thursday as much as the next guy (it’s Friday eve, afterall), but I am a little concerned that Tuesday and Wednesday got swallowed whole, sucked away by some very powerful vacuum cleaner (a Dyson, probably) that has trained its sights on my week.  Between our quick trip to Milwaukee last weekend, our house guest for the week (my sister, which means Family Dinners all week long!) and another trip this weekend (San Diego, where I hear the temperature actually stays above 50 degrees for, like, more than an hour; I’ll believe it when I see it), this week has been a hectic one.  Especially when you throw in the pesky day job.

But it’s a week of all good things (who can complain about weekend get-aways and sisters, really?) so I’m just trying to hang on for the ride.   I think it helps that the week got off to a very good start on Sunday night (that’s when I consider “the week” to start—no longer weekend, but not yet work week) with the dish you see here and Sunday Night Baseball.

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As I’m writing this, it’s still Monday. I’m trying to get all my ducks in a row before leaving town tomorrow. And, it turns out that writing five posts in one day is exhausting! So, I’m making this another all photos-Friday. Up today: a fennel-and-sage crusted pork tenderloin. It’s delicious. And quite beautiful, too, I think.

(Click “more” for the photos & the recipe.)

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I really, really hope that I’m getting this to you in time. Please tell me you haven’t planned a Fourth of July menu yet. Or that, if you have, you’re at least open to being persuaded otherwise. Or that you have the sides all picked out and a bevy of desserts all lined up, but you just don’t know what will anchor the feast that will accompany your fireworks gawking, parade going, sun basking and cold beer sipping. Because have I got the recipe for you.

I try to avoid hyperbole on this site because I know you might grow tired of me and soon you’d just roll your eyes, oh-brothering your way on to the next food blog in your reader. So I try to contain myself most of the time, saving up my over-the-top oohs and ahhs for the really, really special recipes.

(Click “more” for the rest of the story, more photos & the recipe.)

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Well, apparently you all are not hot on the guessing games. Yesterday, I mentioned our Saturday night’s pretend-it’s-summer meal, dangling the potato salad as bait for you to guess our meaty main dish. And this enticement resulted in … silence. I got exactly zero guesses. Well, my friend Brynn lodged a couple guesses via e-mail, but I’m not sure that counts.

And since it’s clear that not-a-one of you is dying in suspense, it’s just no fun to leave you in the dark anymore. Did you all get together to hatch this reverse psychology plan? If so, well played.

(Click “more” for the rest of the story, more photos and the recipe.)

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I may have just planned my last Family Dinner for quite some time. Oh, don’t worry: the Family Dinners will continue. Its just that I might only be cooking and enjoying them, rather than menu planning for them. Let me explain.

Ali, Kevin and I have entered into a friendly wager involving the latest season of The Biggest Loser. Let’s face it, the TV pickings are slim these days. What’s more, we don’t have a team in the NFL playoffs, the Bulls are completely awful and March Madness is half a January and a whole February (complete with an extra day for Leap Year!) away. So, folks, we’ve created our own sport.

(Click “more” for the rest of the story, more photos & the recipe)

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